The creature known as Ishkur watched her from the top of the sandy rise, feasting his eyes on her wild beauty. His position, carefully chosen, overlooked the lonely beach house by the windswept shore. The moon was almost full, casting unearthly shadows over the dunes and spindly trees as they swayed in the breeze.He loved the night; he was at home here, and the darkness was his domain, belonging to him totally. Here, he was king. Here, he answered to no one.Created in Mesopotamia during the time of Sumer, Ishkur had been roaming the earth for over three thousand years, his senses and powers growing stronger and more potent with the passing of each century.He had seen and done many things throughout his long, and unnatural existence. He had been present during the Persian wars with Greece, had met and talked with men of learning — Herodotus and Sophocles among them. He had witnessed the growing power of Rome, travelling from one end of their empire to the other, residing for a while in Alexandria and Carthage, and living for many savage years with the Druids in ancient Britain.And then, following the last significant Roman victory at the battle of the Catalaunian Fields, where the Legions and their allies finally triumphed over the rampant Huns, he had watched the Empire’s decline as the barbarian tribes inevitably prevailed.Throughout, he had observed the rise of and spread of Christianity and, later, Islam. He had watched their warriors battle for dominance over the holy lands, destroying each other during the Crusades. He had marvelled at the Mongol tide as it surged westward, avcılar escort bayan sweeping everything before it, making a mockery of European knights and Arab horsemen alike.He had drunk wine and argued with Copernicus, Da Vinci, and Galileo, Descartes and Newton. These things he had done, and more, until he grew jaded and frustrated with the Old World, tired of its bickering. And so he moved to the New.Still unspoilt by civilization, the New World beckoned like a candle flame to a moth. In those first years on these shores, he had explored voraciously. With a new sense of discovery and excitement, he travelled from the northern wilderness with its huge boreal forests—the Taiga—to the southern tip on the Tierra del Fuego—the Land of Fire, with its stunning, glacial landscapes. Fire and ice, literally, coming together.For the last few centuries, he had been enjoying the seemingly endless opportunities and possibilities in the most vibrant part of this fascinating continent. A land of pioneers and hope; he enjoyed its audacity and assuredness, and its total belief in itself.After the Revolution—or rather, the War of Independence, he had watched this young country take its first faltering steps into nationhood until it became the power it was today; decadent, impulsive, growing in strength with time, until it was the dominant force in the world. Like he himself had grown in strength, growing more powerful with each passing decade. He smiled to himself. He liked the comparison.Now he sensed change was afoot in this country of excess. Like the Roman Empire before, beylikdüzü escort bayan it was teetering on the brink, toying with a path that could lead to its own destruction. Perhaps then, he would seek a new home—though where, he could not imagine.Perhaps. But first…During the last few decades, his desires were changing. He was yearning for something different. It had taken him a while to recognise what he sought, and why.He was lonely.It really shouldn’t have surprised him. After all this time, it was only to be expected. He needed something else—someone else, to make him complete. He sought… companionship.Of course, he’d had companions before, but the last one had departed many years ago—before he’d come to the New World. Previously, there had never been an expectation of permanence. Now, though, he wanted to share his knowledge, his power—his existence—with another. Someone—and he recognised the irony here—who matched his zest for life. Someone he could love.Now, here in this place, after years of searching, he thought he might have found that someone.Maybe she was the one? Maybe his hunt was finally at an end?Tonight was the night he would find out.Maybe…Ishkur had always had diverse tastes, enjoying intimacy with both man and woman alike. But he sought only those with vitality; those with open minds, who enjoyed the world for what it was. He delighted in their creativity, their ardour, their abandonment of the banal, their joy and laughter.He had been watching this particular female for a number of nights now. It was around this time that she inevitably esenyurt escort took a stroll along the shore, savouring the wind, or the rain, or whatever the weather was doing—it didn’t seem to matter to her. From a distance, his preternatural eyes studied her behaviour. She loved to embrace her surroundings—lifting her face towards the sky so she would feel the salt spray from the pounding waves, or the drizzle from the night sky. He saw how she revelled in the elements, relishing the primaeval power.What his extraordinary eyes couldn’t see, his other senses told him what he wanted to know.He couldn’t read minds—not really. He did, however, get a strong sense of what someone was thinking—a glimpse, if you like, into their thoughts and desires. With this one, intriguing pictures drifted in and out of his consciousness. He discerned a mind as mischievous as his own. Her delinquent thoughts fascinating him.There was a wildness about her. And though she was very much aware of her own sensuality, recognising her appeal to others, not many tempted her in return. But, he sensed, for the ones that did, it was an experience they never forgot.He found her features exquisite; paradoxically both delicate and strong. He enjoyed watching her impish smile, and her gaiety. Her scent was scintillating; her bouquet was so unique and powerful that he would know her anywhere now, even if she was miles away from him.He could taste her on the breeze, as she walked along the seashore, revelling in the moonlight, her long unruly hair blowing with abandonment about her face.He growled softly to himself. He would need to control himself with this one; her appeal was almost too great. Over the course of only a few nights, her allure had become almost too powerful for her own good, her thoughts reflecting such an affinity with his own, it was as if fate was taking a hand.